


Ladybug's New Challenge

by dam_pjo_fandom



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-07-23 12:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7463829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dam_pjo_fandom/pseuds/dam_pjo_fandom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Suits take good care of the superheros when villains send them tumbling. But what happens to their lives when the tumble happens before the transformation? And how does one maintain secrecy between their civilian life and their superhero life when they have matching injuries?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Marinette takes a spill

It was a Monday just like any other when Marinette blindly patted around to turn off her alarm. She had to be at school in 25 minutes, as she’d already hit the snooze button… 4 times? 5? She wasn’t sure, but enough that she really needed to get up, a point being emphasized by her small kwami friend, Tikki, currently flittering around her head.

Groaning, she swung her legs out of bed, rubbed her eyes, and stumbled to the bathroom for a quick shower. With 10 minutes left before the late bell rang, Marinette threw her bag over her shoulder, yanked the door aside to climb down the stairs to her kitchen, and… promptly slipped and went flying down the ladder with almost nothing to slow her fall. 

She hit the floor with a sickening crack, and felt an intense fire consume her right arm.

“Marinette?” She heard her mom call from below, in the shop. “Is everything alright?” But the pain was intense, and she squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw as she attempted to limit the throbbing to just her arm, silently urging the licks of pain in her shoulder back down away from her neck. 

She was… definitely going to be late to school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dude, did you hear what happened to Marinette this morning?” Nino asked Adrien after their first lesson. 

Adrien had noticed that the shy girl hadn’t been in class, but he had no idea why. He frowned, worried. “No, what happened to her?”

“She fell down an almost vertical flight of stairs and broke her arm in, like, 3 places and disloChated her shoulder!”

Adrien felt his eyes widen in disbelief, and he almost stopped walking. “Are you kidding!? Is she okay? How do you know all this?” The questions sprang from him, an intense combination of care and curiosity. He’d never been close to Marinette, indeed she was barely willing to talk to him, but she’d always seemed kind and he liked how she stood up against Chloe without being mean or rude - quite an impressive feat in his mind.

Nino grinned. “Alya told me. She’s pissed that they aren’t letting her skip out of school to go see Marinette at the hospital.”

Adrien grimaced. “I would be too. We should go after school today - pick up flowers or something, let her know we’re all hoping for a fast recovery for her.”

“Since when have you given Marinette special attention?” Nino asked Adrien teasingly, nudging Adrien in the shoulder.

“Oh please, I just want to support her is all.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you think she’d mind? Maybe we should ask Alya first.”

“Good idea,” Nino said, and called Alya over to them as they sat down at their seats again.

“Hey Nino, Adrien, what’s up?” Alya asked distractedly, typing away at her phone.

Adrien glanced at Nino uncertainly, then reached up to rub his neck as he spoke. “Hey, do you think Marinette would be cool with us sending her get-well-soon flowers? I heard she was in an… accident this morning, and I was kinda hoping it would cheer her up.”

Alya’s head snapped up, and suddenly she was looking at Adrien in a piercing way that made him almost as nervous as when his father called Adrien to his office. Like he was taking a test, and he wasn’t sure if he would pass it.

Whatever it was, Alya grinned. “That would be awesome!! I’m sure she’d appreciate the effort, especially if you dropped them off yourself.” She gave Nico a secretive glance that Adrien did not understand at all before looking back to the blonde. “I support this idea. We can go to the flower shop immediately after school.”

“Um… Okay.” Adrien agreed a little raggedly, somewhat confused by the excitement now pouring off Alya. The teacher started her lecture then, and Adrien cast one last glance at the brunette before facing forwards to avoid the teacher’s notice. When he glanced sideways at Nino, the boy grinned and gave Adrien a thumbs up, only increasing his confusion. 

Shaking his head, Adrien sent Nathalie a text telling her that he had some after-school things he had to do with a classmate, and promising that he wouldn’t be late to fencing that afternoon. By the time her confirmation text came in, his mind was busy piecing together where he could find some cheese to sustain Plagg from commenting as Adrien ran his other… errands… of the day.

The clock seemed to move slower than ever as Adrien waited through his classes, lunch, and still more classes. By the time he had placed some cheap string-cheese from the convenience store into his bag for Plagg and entered the flower shop with Alya and Nino, he was confounded as to why he was anticipating seeing Marinette so much. 

After some consideration and debate, the group ultimately settled on a bouquet of scarlet carnations, feeling the red would complement Marinette’s dark hair well and add a splash of color to the room. He gripped the flowers nervously as he, Alya, and Nino walked into the hospital. Alya had the room number, and she was just turning the knob to enter the room when the group heard a loud crashing noise from outside the hospital, and a screech echoed through the hallways. 

“You think you can disrespect me, for my status and efforts? Prepare to feel the wrath of Madam Scrubs - I will wipe the floor with all who stand in my way!” The yell was angry, and Adrien’s eyes widened as he realized that someone had just been akumatized right by the hospital.

Shoving the flowers at Nino, he pushed him and Alya into the room, then took off down the hallway until they reached the - luckily - empty bathroom so he could transform.

The kwami grumpily flew out of his jacket, but Adrien shook his head, knowing they didn’t have much time given the bad placement of the akumatized super-villain.

“Plagg, claws out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfiction since I was tiny and didn't understand life at all. I know this chapter is short, but it's an intro to see how the idea ebbs and flows. Please be kind, and if anyone has suggestions for the story or edits let me know!
> 
> Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D


	2. Madam Scrubs

Chapter 2:  
Marinette was absent-mindedly staring at a TV news channel, trying to decide if she would rather be in school or the hospital, as her kwami napped just under the covers. She was just reaching for the remote to turn it off when her best friend Alya and her semi-friend Nino came stumbling through the door. Gasping in surprise as the door slammed shut behind them, she sat up straight.

“What on earth?” She exclaimed, looking to Alya for answers.

“Marinette!” Alya smiled, then glanced between the girl and the door hesitantly. “Look, I think someone just got akumatized, which means Ladybug and Chat Noir will show up any minute! I have to go film…” she looked back at her friend, then ran over and gave her a quick hug. “I’ll be back to talk more soon. Nino, keep her company!” Shooting a firm look at the boy, Alya ran out the door again, leaving two bewildered friends behind.

“Um…” Nino waved awkwardly. “Hey Marinette. How’s the arm?”

Marinette blinked at the change of topic, then glanced down at the plain black cast on her arm. “It’s fine. The doctors gave me some pain meds, so it doesn’t really hurt. Then again, I can’t feel much of anything right now.” 

Wait, who cared about casts? She needed to go fight an akuma! But Nino was in the room with her, and there was no way to transform with him right there. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, trying to think of what to do as her ears were met with crashes from outside the room. 

“That’s good.” Nino shuffled his feet. “Hey, uh, do you think this room is safe from the… whatever… it is? Cause…” he trailed off, looking at the door nervously. “Maybe we should find somewhere safer.” He concluded. 

Yes! That was just what Marinette needed. “Good idea, Nino! How about you go find a safe place, and… I’ll come find you as soon as I can? I just want to find and bring Alya too.”

“Well, Adrien is here too. Somewhere, anyway.” Nino told her, making her eyes widen in concern. “He shoved me and Alya in here then ran off. Maybe to fight that thing, who knows?”

Marinette gasped. “He wouldn’t! That’s way too dangerous!” She wasn’t even safe fighting those things with superhero powers - there was no way Adrien could handle it all on his own. 

Fighting her fear for Adrien down, she looked back at Nino. She had to free herself from him now. 

“Nino, you go find a better hiding spot. I’ll be there as soon as I can I have to… uh…” what would Nino not want to be there for? “Change! See, the nurses needed me to take x rays and stuff without certain clothes on and then I was really tired because of the anesthesia and so I just went to bed and I haven’t put anything back on yet and-”

Nino cut her off, gesturing his hands at her with wide eyes. “Uh- yeah, I got you. I’ll just… leave now. I’ll see you soon? Okaybye!” He ran out the door and Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. 

Tikki flew out from under the blankets. “Phew, that was a close one!” She said in her little voice. “Come on Marinette, let’s go take care of Paris.”

With a doubtful look at her busted arm, Marinette slid out of bed and cried “Tikki, spots on!”

Once Marinette was in her uniform she glanced down at her right arm in surprise. The cast was gone. Did that mean her arm was fine whenever she was Ladybug- she grunted in pain as she tried to straighten her arm and roll her wrist. So that was a no, obviously.

“So I can move my arm, but it hurts.” She muttered to herself, moving towards the door. “Great. This will be so much fun.” 

When she arrived at the front of the hospital, where a woman in scrubs was waving a clipboard around and hitting people - each who ended up wheezing, vomiting, wobbly and dizzy, or otherwise sickly - she almost whimpered. Chat Noir was already on sight, jumping from car to car as the villain followed angrily. He tripped over a sidewalk, but just as the akumatized victim was about to smack him with her clipboard, she found herself unable to move thanks to the yoyo string wound tightly around her arm.

Ladybug yanked, wincing as her right arm protested the use, and the woman holding the clipboard slipped. She fell, and the clipboard went flying into nearby bushes where Alya was hiding, filming the interactions. Chat Noir jumped up and ran forward, holding his stick against Madam Scrubs’s throat as Ladybug hurried to the clipboard. Just before she could get to it Madam Scrubs snarled and lashed out at Chat Noir, forcing him to jump back and allow her to rise.

The woman ran straight at Ladybug, who quickly flung her yoyo in the air, calling in her Lucky Charm. A set of black-and-red shoelaces fell into her hand, and she stared at it in confusion. She then glanced around, and saw a flagpole, tree, and entry sign.

“Chat Noir, the flagpole!” She yelled, jumping over Madam Scrubs and wrapping her in the yoyo string yet again - hoping to keep her busy for long enough. 

“Anything for you, bugaboo.” he winked at Ladybug, and she rolled her eyes as Chat Noir called in his Chataclysm and slashed at the pole. It began to fall, knocking into the sign and forcing the sign to spin around. As it spun it hit Madam Scrubs in the side of the head, spinning her over to the tree, where Marinette quickly wound the shoelaces around the woman’s ankles and hoisted her into the branches.

She dashed back to the bushes where she’d been before. “Excuse me,” she muttered to Alya as she grabbed the clipboard from beside her and broke the fragile plastic over her knee. A small black butterfly flew out, and Ladybug quickly transformed it back into a harmless white creature. “Fly away little butterfly,” she told it, then strapped the yoyo back to her hip and flung the shoelaces from the woman into the air with a “Miraculous Ladybug!” The world began fixing itself with the magic from the miraculous - the flagpole became one nice piece, the doors of the hospital went back to sliding correctly, and alarms stopped ringing.

“Pound it.” She and Chat Noir shared a fist bump, and she grinned at him. 

“Good work, Chat.” She told him.

“Why thank you, my lady.” Chat Noir responded pleasantly. “I’ve been told I whisk-er the girls away very well.” He made a motion in front of his face to match his horrible pun. 

Ladybug groaned, and he laughed as people began to wander out of the hospital and Alya ran up to the two of them.

“That was so cool!” Alya was beside herself with excitement, holding the camera directly at the superheros - but a bit more at Ladybug. “You defeated her so fast! Does it normally work that well? How did you think of using the shoelaces like that? How did Chat Noir know what you meant when you told him about the pole? Did-” she broke off as Ladybug winced in pain. “Are you okay?”

“Ye-Yeah, I’m fine.” Ladybug stuttered. “But I really have to go now.” Her words were backed up by a beeping noise from her earrings. 

“Aw.” Alya looked so disappointed it pulled at Marinette’s heart. “Your blog is awesome, by the way,” she added to make her feel better. “Maybe add some Chat in there? Just for kicks.” She winked at her partner, trying to make sure he felt included. 

He looked up from the beeping ring. “Yep, that would be 100 purr-cent great!” He told her. “But I gotta run now to. Chat-ch you later!” With that he ran off, using his expanding baton to push himself faster and farther, jumping from roof to roof. Ladybug, with a grin at Alya, followed suit, swinging past the hospital. 

She’d barely gotten out of sight before she dropped to the ground and released her transformation, tears building in her eyes. Damn her arm hurt. The cast was back, but it was like any meds the doctors had given her were null and void. She ran back to her room, glad to find it empty, before she realized that she’d never seen Adrien. Was he okay? Did he get hurt? She spun around, about to go find him when she ran smack into a warm body that had just stepped into the room behind her. Looking up, she saw familiar green eyes and a mop of blond hair. Oh. My. Gosh. She barely noticed her arm, pinned between them, ached as she blushed fiercely at how Adrien was holding her up. 

“S-sorry,” she muttered, knowing she needed to step back but not wanting to do so.

“Entirely my fault,” Adrien replied, his green eyes never leaving hers, his body just as close as it had been before. He wasn’t releasing her either, she realized. 

And then the door slammed open and they jumped apart at Alya’s loud question “Are you okay!?”

Marinette felt her face flame even hotter, and she stuttered something about being fine-just-perfect-wonderful-never-better-still-talking until she took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. 

Alya launched forward and gave Marinette a hug, careful to avoid her arm, then stepped back and looked back and forth between the blushing girl and the red boy, grinning. “I’m glad you’re okay.” she said, but Marinette had to wonder if Alya meant something completely different than normal by “okay.” 

She glanced at Adrien, and when her eyes met his she blushed again, and quickly looked away. 

Then Marinette blinked. What were Adrien, Nino, and Alya doing there again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Here's chapter two! I know there isn't much fluff, but there's a little bit at the end there. 
> 
> Also, Cat's puns truly are horrific. Oh, well.
> 
> Let me know what you all think! :D


	3. Um, Uh, Hi? What?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has no idea what is happening because he starts to think...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A tad bit of fluff with a whole lot of fluff-between-adrien's-ears-because-he-has-no-idea-what's-going-on.

Adrien had wanted to ask Ladybug if she was feeling alright - she was holding her arm strangely after the fight - but she’d scurried off quickly and he’d needed to go find his friends. He vaulted over the building and transformed back, sliding inside behind a wheelchair patient will really cool orange and red hair. 

His kwami Plagg, already annoyed about the “vile, disgusting ‘cheese’” Adrien had fed him, grumbled angrily as he hid in Adrien’s jacket.

The boy swiftly walked down the hallway, scanning for Marinette’s room number. Ah, there it was. Just as he opened the door, something small and dark came barrelling at him. He caught it as it bounced back off him, holding it close to steady it. Upon further inspection, “it” was Marinette. His hands were on her waist, letting her regain her balance. 

She glanced up, and her face twisted into something he couldn’t quite understand - it seemed almost awestruck, but there was a tense nature to it.. Then her suddenly red creeped into her face. He wondered if her shortness was what made him like holding her close, almost protectively, or if it was just some feeling left over from being Chat Noir. Either way, he liked having her small frame caged in his arms. 

“Sorry!” She squeaked, and he fought a grin.

“Entirely my fault.” He replied smoothly. Manners had been drilled into him young, and most of the time he didn’t mind - it gave him better conversational skills than he would otherwise have. As his father had drilled into him, “Every sentence has a correct response. It is YOUR job to know that response.” He liked not having to worry about thinking up words to say in every moment, because in this moment he didn’t really want to think about much but-

The whap of the door opening behind him jolted him to release her. “Are you okay!?” 

The loud inquiry came from Alya, and Marinette began to stutter through an answer. That puzzled Adrien - why was she so frazzled? Was it something with her arm? Unless she’d seen the akuma attack, but she should have stayed out of it in here, so the arm had to be it, right? Crap! Had he hurt her arm when he caught her? His confused thoughts swirled around in his head, but he shook himself out of it. He looked back at Marinette, eyes locking with her very blue ones. It disappointed him when she looked away.

“Why are you out of bed?” Alya asked Marinette. “Won’t that hurt your shoulder?”

Marinette grimaced, and walked back over the the bed, sitting on the side gingerly. “Yeah, but I wanted to get away from the windows. You know, in case the akuma thing went awry.” She nodded her head at the wide windows covered by blinds on the side of the room. 

“Smart thinking,” Alya told her. “Just be careful disobeying doctors’ orders.” 

Marinette rolled her eyes “Yes, mom.” 

Adrien glanced at Nino, unsure what to say or do now that he was here. Nino shrugged, and picked up the flowers from where they’d been discarded on a small table against the wall. Handing the flowers to Adrien, he tilted his head at Marinette. It was clearly an “I’m waiting, go on” gesture, but Adrien didn’t understand why he had to be the one to give her the flowers. Hadn’t they come as a group to do this?

He cleared his throat nervously, and saw Marinette watching him - nervously? He really couldn’t read her at all. Her eyes were flicking around his face, to the flowers, to Alya, and back to him, and she was biting her lip. But she looked neither scared nor excited, or maybe she looked both. He stepped forward. 

“Um, I- we heard about your accident this morning.” He started off clumsily. “I- We wanted to let you know we’re thinking about you and that we hope you feel better soon.” The hand not holding the flowers itched to loosen his hair, or rub the back of his neck. He stepped forward, and held the flowers out to her. “I hope you like red.”

She smiled, her eyes finally focusing on his face. “I- Thank you! You’re wonderful- i mean, that’s wonderkind, I mean, kind and wonderful you’re nice pretty Thank you!” 

Somewhere in the jumble of words he was pretty sure he heard acceptance of the gift. He grinned his relief. “Oh, it’s no problem. I’m sorry we couldn’t come earlier, but, you know, school and all.”

“No, yeah, of course that’s totally okay! I wouldn’t expect you guys to skip for me or anything. I mean, not that I think you wouldn’t you’re so nice, but I wouldn’t want you to. I mean, I always want to see you but not when I’m pulling you I mean-” She started jumbling words again, and Adrien wondered why she always did this with him. She seemed pretty cool most of the time, but whenever he talked to her she started to get all jittery. Did he annoy her?

“Marinette means to say she appreciates it.” Alya walked up to join in on the conversation, Nino following with a grin. “Did the doctor’s say how long you’ll be in the hospital and how long it’ll take to heal?”

“Th-They said I only had to be here for another day or so, but that it would take a couple months to heal fu-fully.” Marinette seemed to calm down a bit when she turned to her friend. Adrien’s mouth twisted a bit. Why didn’t she like him? They’d been on okay terms, or so the thought, for most of the year, but she always clammed up when they tried to have a conversation. He knew she didn’t have a stutter, because it only happened when she was nervous, like when she talked to his father, or when she talked to Adrien himself. But did he make her nervous? If so, he wanted to fix that. He didn’t like making people uncomfortable - he had few enough friends as it was.

“Yeah, we can do that. Right, Adrien?” The conversation had been going on around him while the thoughts swirled in his head.

“Huh, what? What’s happening?” Adrien glanced around in confusion.

“I suggested,” Alya said, seemingly a tad exasperated. “That we could all go out for a ‘Yay-Marinette-didn’t-die’ celebratory dinner once she’s out of the hospital.”

“Oh, uh, yeah! That’d be great! I have a shoot all weekend, but if we do Wednesday or Thursday I can come. Would either of those work?” It would be a pain to convince his dad to let him eat out, but maybe if he promised to eat beforehand and just order a salad? His dad was ridiculous about Adrien’s eating habits.

“Um, I, uh, should get out Wednesday, but, er, my parents will probably want me just home that day. Can, uh, can we do Thursday?” Marinette asked the group shakily.

“Works for me.” Nino stated.

“Alright guys! Thursday it is.” Alya stated the fact like she was pleased she’d checked something off her to do list. “We all go out for dinner.” Adrien saw her wink at Marinette whose eyes got huge in her face. What were they talking - eyeballing - about? Then he glanced at Nino, who grinned and winked at him. Oh great. What was nino eyeballing about? 

Adrien was entirely confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! I will probably not post more frequently than that last bit, but I can promise nothing and no sort of schedule. Let me know if you like the story?


End file.
